Development Support

Development Support

We adopt an angel investor or a social venture capitalist approach to grant making. That means we look for promising, nascent, grassroots-level NGOs and communities that work in the rights framework, addressing the root causes of inequity rather than its symptoms. Our grant making (also known as Development Support within CRY) follows a social justice agenda. We emphasise on advocacy as an essential medium if change is to be achieved on a significant scale.

With the NGOs we support, CRY defines its role as that of a partner – each infusion of funds is accompanied by the non-financial inputs necessary to ensure their optimum utilisation and maximum impact. Inputs in the areas of organisation building, programme development, training, and perspective building in child rights, accountability and advocacy.

In addition, each initiative combines direct action with children, community mobilisation and policy influencing components to maximise impact and ensure long-term viability. This is particularly critical where both, society and government institutions are still plagued by feudal biases of caste, gender, ethnicity and religion.

Over three decades of working with and for children, their families and communities, CRY’s grant making efforts to over 500 NGOs, has helped restore to 1,500,000 children their basic rights to a childhood.

Community mobilisation is what we at CRY believe is the most effective long-term solution to the multiple causes of poverty, deprivation, exploitation and abuse that shackle India’s children. In recent years, we have been witnessing incredible transformation across 13000 village and slum communities in 22 Indian states that CRY works in along with its partner initiatives.

Erstwhile bonded labourers being elected to panchayats, women and girls now challenging centuries old practices and biases, non-violent redistribution of community resources, and transparent, democratic, accountable governance.

With our experience, reach, credibility and influence, we have increasingly taken on the role of initiating networks to enhance solidarity, enable the transfer of learning, increase the effectiveness of our policy influencing efforts and establish standards in the area of public accountability. Thanks to our grassroots outreach and relative independence from large benefactors, these efforts are grounded in local reality and therefore, relevant to indigenous needs and priorities of the communities.